I love history. For me, it wasn’t the good food and drink at Kennedy School that was the main attraction, but the great and loving effort that the McMenamins team put into preserving and restoring that historic building. I wandered the halls and visited rooms for a few hours, and was continually astonished at what I was seeing.

During my meandering, I noticed that many of the patrons had something called a McMenamins Passport, and they were very eager to have it stamped at various locations in the Kennedy School complex. I read about it later at home, but at that time I didn’t feel much in­ter­est in it. But a seed had been planted.

Through the long Oregon winter that seed lay dormant, but recently it has begun to germinate and sprout. I realized that I would probably be visiting many historic McMenamins locations during 2016. As long as I was going to go there anyway, it started to make sense that I should take advantage of the benefits a Passport offers.

A couple of excerpts from their Passport FAQs page may answer some of the questions you might be having right now. You can always click over to that page for answers to additional questions that might be burning in your brain.

Q: What the devil is a McMenamins Passport?!

A: The McMenamins Passport is your way of keeping track of all the McMenamins locations that you visit — and our way of rewarding you for doing so! When you visit any McMenamins, ask your server for a stamp. You can receive stamps just for visiting our locations, but the stamping doesn’t stop there! Check out the full list of rules and details.

Q: Twenty-five bucks! Why do I have to buy a Passport? Shouldn’t you just give it to me as a loyal fan?

A: We’re awarding more than $200 in prizes [see details link in previous answer] during the quest (per person!), and a grand prize worth $500 once that Passport is full of stamps, so that one-time $25 is sooooo worth it.

In the current version of the Passport there are 100 stamps you need to get in order to claim the grand prize. But those 100 are grouped into 22 sections, and each time you complete a section you get a small reward.

Furthermore, there are 16 optional “experiences” stamps you can col­lect, and each time you get four you receive a $20 McMenamins gift card. For $5 you can buy an insert containing 8 additional “experiences” you can get stamps for.

In my case, while I was at the Cornelius Pass Road property I got my first stamp (of 100) at the Imbrie Hall restaurant where I bought my Passport and had lunch. Shortly thereafter I was able to take tours of both the brewery and the distillery, and thus get two “experiences” stamps. Only two more “experiences” stamps and I’ll get my first $20 gift card.

On the other hand there are some “experiences” which I will never ex­perience, like playing golf at one of their two courses, or getting a spa treatment, or riding a bike to one of their pubs, or bringing a pet dog with me (if they only knew how much I hate dogs!). But in the end, it’s OK that I won’t collect stamps for all 24 “experiences” — there’s no pressure to achieve or perform!

The funny thing is that it’s not McMenamins’ liquor or food — fine though they are — which makes me want to visit their nearly 60 lo­ca­tions. I’m longing to see and photograph the beautiful historic buildings they have restored. The food and drink are extra benefits along the way. And I absolutely love the fascinating work of their history department!

Although I plan on sampling the epicurean offerings of each location, it’s nice to know that I’m usually not required to make any purchases in order to get a Passport stamp at most locations. In the end, the whole point of collecting stamps is to enjoy myself and have great new ex­pe­ri­ences. I can definitely toast to that!

In order to avoid having to dig out my driver’s license each time I get a stamp in my Passport, I needed to add a photo of myself to the first page. No sweat, I thought, I’m an accomplished photographer! In my next article I will share the details of the difficulties I had in making myself look presentable! In the article after that I will be explaining how I am using computer technology to organize my McMenamins Passport adventure.